The Makeshift Avatar
by noah504
Summary: Monk Renshi and the Elders told of the Spirits of pasts Avatars banding together to make the decision for the new Avatar. They made the wrong choice. Now they have to fix it.
1. Meeting of the Elders

It had been many years since the passing of Avatar Aang, and the period of peace that followed the Hundred Year War was dwindling, having been maintained by Avatar Korra of the Southern Water Tribe for two hundred and seven years until her death. The Avatar that followed her was Avatar Ochitu of the Earth Kingdom, a man who was thrust into a revolt of the former Fire Nation colonies as a child and, like Aang, ran from the responsibility. When he returned a dozen years later, however, he was unrecognizable. He had mastered all four elements but something was different. It wouldn't be much longer before he revealed this change, he had severed all connections with the Spirit World and was, for all intents and purposes, only Avatar in name and bending, but no longer the bridge between the two worlds or the one to maintain balance.

With this lack of balance in the world, a cross-national group began a revolution, trying to break away from the traditional separation of the four nations in an attempt to create a super nation. It was then that Monk Renshi and the Elders from all four Air Temples met to deliberate.

One man in attendance was not an elder, nor was he an airbender. The man's name was Jianfu, and he was an earthbender, the widower of an airbender that had remained on Air Temple Island following the death of his wife. He lived alone with his son Akio and Akio's liondragon, Ronin and was very worried about his summons to this meeting. Speaking of the meeting, it had been going on for quite a while before Jianfu realized it had even begun. He waited for a lull before posing a question.

"Pardon me, Monk Renshi, but could you please tell me why I have been asked to attend this meeting?" asked Jianfu.

"I take it you were not listening," replied Renshi merrily. "I shall repeat myself. In the time since the Great War, many children have been born to parents of different nations. Some of these children are able to bend the element of their father, some are able to bend the element of their mother, some are not able to bend any element, but a very rare few are able to bend the elements of both their father and mother."

"Like Akio," suggested Jianfu, but he was met with solemn head shaking from all members of the meeting.

"Not quite like Akio. Never before has a child been able to bend opposing elements, besides the Avatar, although parents who bend opposing elements seem to have no problems producing benders of either element," explained a woman with a partially shaved head revealing an arrow tattoo, Akio's maternal aunt.

"What does this mean? If Akio is special like you say he is, why is he not here?" asked Jianfu, searching the eyes of the monks before him, his own eyes pleading for an answer.

"We believe that something unprecedented has happened. Sixteen years ago, when Avatar Ochitu broke his connection with the Spirit World, the spirits of the past Avatars must have renounced him as Avatar and chose a new Avatar.

"We began looking for the new Avatar in the Fire Nation, but after a fruitless search, we turned to the Earth Kingdom. It was then that we realized that the new Avatar would need to be ready as soon as possible, so we looked for two-element benders who could bend earth. It was then that we came to Akio and his special situation. Through your bloodline, Akio is a descendant of Avatar Kiyoshi, and through your wife's bloodline, he is a descendant of Avatar Aang. This is why we believe he is able to bend both earth and air, and this is also why we believe Akio is the Avatar," Renshi said in an even-toned, calm voice.

Jianfu fainted.

"Is he okay?" asked Akio worriedly as he rushed into the healer's house after receiving word about his father.

"Yes, he will be fine, child," replied Akio's aunt as she laid a comforting hand on his shoulder.

"What happened to him, Aunt Meifeng?" Akio asked as he stepped forward and knelt down next to prone father, draping himself over Jianfu.

"Jianfu received some ... startling news during the meeting of the Elders this morning," said Monk Renshi. "Come child, we have much to talk about."

Akio looked bewildered at the prospect of speaking with Monk Renshi but nodded and followed the old man out of the healer's house, glancing at Meifeng, trying to will her to come as well, but she did not.

"Akio, you have become a very powerful airbender in the past few months," Renshi noted as the two began to walk along the edge of the Temple, overlooking the sea far below.

"Thank you, Monk Renshi," Akio said, bowing respectfully.

"This is not something we expected," Renshi told Akio, smirking mirthfully as Akio had to bite his tongue. "Understand that since the end of the Great War, many children have been born to parent who bend different elements. You are the first child to be able to bend opposing elements, not including the Avatar."

"What are you trying to say?" Akio asked, although his facial expression would make one believe that he wasn't sure he wanted to know.

"Akio, you are the Avatar," spoke Renshi as he fell into an airbending stance, ready to catch Akio if he fainted.

Akio laughed.

"With all due respect, Monk Renshi, you're crazy," said Akio dismissively. "I can't be the Avatar. Avatar Ochitu is the Avatar."

"Ah, Ochitu iwas/i the Avatar. Sixteen years ago, he severed his connection with the Spirit World and in effect, is no longer the Avatar. We believe that the spirits of the past Avatars chose you as the new Avatar," explained Renshi with a soft smile.

"Why me? Shouldn't the new Avatar be someone from the Fire Nation?" asked Akio.

"We thought so, as well. Personally, choosing you as Avatar may have just been convenience. Spirits are all-knowing, of course. Look at your situation. You already bend two elements. Who are your closest friends, Akio?" asked Renshi.

"Yakedo, Shirokuma, and Kyoki," Akio answered, curious about the direction the conversation was taking.

"Ah, the triplets. Yakedo, he is a powerful and innovative firebender. Shirokuma, there is no greater waterbender than he. And Kyoki may be the best female weapons master this world has ever seen. Do you not see, Akio? You have unknowingly surrounded yourself with the best possible teachers for you to excel as the Avatar," said Renshi.

"How can you be sure?" Akio asked.

"I am sure because I believe in you. Follow me, Akio," Renshi said before walking to the sanctuary that housed the statues of all past Avatars. "It has been said that if an Avatar in true need of counsel were to meditate in front of the statue of Avatar Aang, Aang would speak to him."

Akio nodded uncertainly, bowed respectfully to Renshi as he left, and sat in front of Aang's statue and began to meditate. As soon as the familiar feeling of tranquility washed over Akio, the eyes of Aang's statue glowed brightly and the next thing Akio knew, he was sitting on a tree stump surrounded by past Avatars, all sitting on their own tree stumps. There was heavy fog around them, but not entering into the circle. Akio could not make out his surroundings.

"W-where am I?" asked Akio nervously.

"You are in the Spirit World, young Avatar," spoke Avatar Roku from his stump in between Avatar Kiyoshi and Avatar Aang.

"Are you sure you haven't made a mistake?" Akio suggested.

"We are quite certain," replied Avatar Kiyoshi.

"The world needs an Avatar, Akio," began Avatar Korra. "We chose you."

"How? Why?" Akio demanded, becoming more comfortable being with his past lives.

"You will find out why soon enough, but I can show you how," spoke Aang, before he reached out and touched Akio's forehead.

The faces of the other Avatars faded away and all that was left was Aang and Akio standing outside of the healer's house on Air Temple Island.

"Ochitu renounced the Spirit World just hours before your birth. We sought out your mother immediately and explained to her the situation and what we needed to do," Aang told Akio.

At this moment, Akio could see a woman he recognized from pictures around his house laying in a bed and crying as she spoke to Avatar Kiyoshi.

"Your father is a direct descendant of Avatar Kiyoshi and your mother is a direct descendant of mine. Normally a child born to parents of opposing elements would not be able to bend both, but we needed to give you that ability. To do this, your mother would have to sacrifice her bending to give it to you. Avatar Korra explained the necessity of this and also what would happen. Your mother sacrificed her life so you could be the Avatar, Akio," Aang explained.

Now Akio could see his mother nod her head resolutely and then her eyes and tattoos glowed white. The next thing Akio was exposed to was the sound of crying, his crying. His mother was gone and his father was a mess.

"It is up to you to bring balance to the world, Akio. You have all the resources at your disposal in order to complete your Avatar training. You will train first with your friend Shirokuma to master waterbending, then with Yakedo to master firebending, and finally, you will master weapons combat with Kyoki, to make you a well-rounded fighter. This training is absolutely necessary," said Avatar Roku and Akio realized he was back on his tree stump.

"Good luck, Avatar Akio," said Avatar Korra, and with that, Akio returned to his body in the air temple sanctuary.

Akio walked out of the temple with his head high and his jaw clenched in determination. His eyes narrowed as he looked across Yue Bay to Republic city.

"I am the Avatar."


	2. Waterbending

"Remember, it's an ebb and flow. Picture the moon and the tides. Move your arms to mimic the tide coming in and then going out," said Shirokuma as he and Akio stood at the bank of the river that flowed through Air Temple Island. He was moving the water back and forth as Akio attempted to do the same.

Akio looked down and saw his and Shirokuma's reflections in the water. Shirokuma was tall and muscular with the distinctive features of the Southern Water Tribe, dark brown hair, blue eyes, and light brown skin. He wore customary Water Tribe clothing. Akio was almost as tall as Shirokuma and although he was in great shape, he was more lean and athletic than overtly muscular. His black hair was cut short and he had light olive skin. He had somewhat of an oval-shaped face with a defined jaw, an unremarkable nose, almond-shaped grey eyes, and thin lips. Akio wore customary Air Nomad clothing and an Earth Kingdom emblem necklace around his neck.

"Like this?" Akio asked as he performed the movements that Shirokuma had been showing him.

"Perfect!" exclaimed Shirokuma as his feet got wet due to the amount of water that Akio was bending.

"Alright, now that you've got that down, why don't you try to raise some water out of the river, like this," suggested Shirokuma as he showed Akio the movements as he pulled a stream of water of out the river and, after spinning it above his head, replaced it.

Akio copied the stance and arm movements Shirokuma had showed him and successfully replicated his friend's feat, although Akio's stream of water dripped more than Shirokuma's had.

"You sure you haven't been practicing waterbending?" asked Shirokuma, one eyebrow cocked and a smirk on his face.

"I didn't know I was able until this morning," Akio reminded him.

"Likely story. Water ball, let's go. It's a circular movement with the arms, like this," Shirokuma replied, and he showed Akio how to do the water ball before flinging it at his friend.

Akio stomped the ground and a large ball of rock flew in front of him to shield him from the water.

"Uh-uh!" admonished Shirokuma. "Waterbending only!"

"No fair, Shiro, I can barely move the water," complained Akio, but he proceeded to form an exemplary water ball and flung it at Shirokuma. His friend was shocked at the ability that Akio possessed and was thus absolutely drenched.

"That's no fair!" argued Shirokuma as he bent the water out of his clothes and off of his body, streaming it back at Akio.

"Hey! Quit it, Shiro!" cried Akio with a laugh as he deftly dodged the water and with a grand movement of his arms, sent a tidal wave of water from the river crashing down onto Shirokuma, who was dumbfounded.

"How did you do that?" asked Shirokuma after he had dried himself off.

"Well, I was going to pop the rocks in the riverbed up very quickly to drench you, then I realized that that would count as earthbending, so I tried to bend the water to do what I wanted. It worked and then you got wet and then you asked me how I did it, so I told you and - " Akio was cut off by the snap of a water whip along the back of his right leg.

"Don't get smart with me, Akio. I am still your teacher, after all," reminded Shirokuma.

"Forgive me, Sifu Shiro," Akio said sarcastically, although his bow of respect was genuine.

"Wanna try the water whip?" asked Shirokuma.

"You bet I do!" exclaimed Akio and he copied the stance and arm movements that Shirokuma showed him. He got it on the second try, snapping the whip at a fish the had jumped out of the river and catching it in mid air.

"Very good, Akio. Looks like you've got the hang of this stuff. Why don't we take a break and go get some lunch. I'm starving!" praised Shirokuma.

"We ate breakfast two hours ago, how are you starving?" Akio asked in amazement.

"When you've a physique like me - " Shirokuma was cut off when Akio turned the water under him to ice, causing his friend to slip.

"What are you doing down there? I thought you were hungry," quipped Akio and he hopped onto an air scooter and rushed away before Shirokuma could retaliate.

Shirokuma caught up to Akio just as the Avatar was kneeling on the ground, ready to eat. "Oh no, Avatar. You must have misunderstood me. We're going to catch our lunch."

Akio looked up and frowned at the sight of the smirk on Shirokuma's face but followed him back to the river anyway. Shirokuma beat Akio there by a long shot and was already in a waterbending stance, scanning the water intently.

"The idea here is to bend the water around the fish and then pull him out of the water. I'll ask you to bend the air out of the fish to make the death as painless as possible," explained Shirokuma without ever looking at Akio.

Akio fell into a stance mirroring Shirokuma and looked for fish as well. After a minute or so, Akio looked over and saw that Shirokuma had caught his third fish, which Akio bent the air out of. Growing frustrated, Akio dug his feet deeper into the earth at the riverbank and tried to use his seismic sense to see where the fish were. The water was in the way at first, but then Akio bent some water over his front foot and he was immediately able to see three fish several feet upstream. Leaping into action, Akio forced the three fish into a huddle and then bent the water around them, lifting them out of the river and onto the bank, where he bent the air out of them.

"How in Tui and La's name did you manage that? There is no way you could have seen those fish!" exclaimed Shirokuma.

"I used my seismic sense and then I bent some water over my foot and I could see through the water, too. I don't really know how or why it worked, but it did," explained Akio. "So now that we have fish, where to now?"

"My house. Kyoki will scale and cut them, you and I will clean them, and then Kedo will cook them. Come on," said Shirokuma and Akio followed him through the Bamboo Forest, twisting and bending the stalks out of their way as they walked.

Eventually, the pair made their way to Shirokuma's house and entered, dumping the fish out of Shiro's bag and onto the counter in the kitchen.

"Yakedo! Kyoki! Lunch!" called Shirokuma and immediately a lanky boy and a slender girl walked into the room.

Yakedo was tall and thin, light complected, and dressed in casual Fire Nation attire. He had a thin face, small amber eyes, a pointed nose, a mop of black hair, and the beginnings of a beard.

Kyoki was of average height with a lithe, athletic build that was complimented by her medium olive skin. She had bright blue-gold eyes, a pixie nose, and a heart-shaped face framed by flowing, light brown hair in an intricately braided half-ponytail. She dressed in an adaptation of the Fire Nation's military uniform, blue with red accents.

It was Kyoki's similarity to both of her brothers that made the similarities between Yakedo and Shirokuma more apparent. She acted as a go-between both in appearance and in personality of the two. While Shirokuma was more easy going and relaxed, he had a hot temper. While Yakedo was fiery and passionate, he tended to stay stable when confronted with stress. The brothers argued like all siblings do, but they were fiercely loyal to one another, and Kyoki as well.

"What's for lunch, Shiro?" asked Yakedo, patting Akio on the shoulder in greeting before looking to the counter. "Fish? Great!"

"Hi, Akio," said the soft-spoken Kyoki, giving him a light hug before turning to Shirokuma. "We need to scale them, right?"

"We have a winner!" exclaimed Shirokuma in mock excitement before gesturing to Akio.

Akio took a calming breath before bending a current under the top fish and moving to a point about three feet in front of him and nodded to Kyoki. In a lightning fast movement, she withdrew Wind and Fire Wheels from somewhere on her back and with two clean, circular motions of each of her wrists, the fish had neither scales, nor tail, nor head. Akio let out a low whistle of approval and Kyoki blushed before hiding that with a smirk. The pair repeated this process five more times.

"Alright, lovebirds, time to clean the fish," announced Shirokuma, ignoring the heated protests from both Akio and Kyoki. "Okay, Avatar. The plan this time is to use the water from the basin to lightly rinse off the fish before gently brushing off any remaining dirt with a current of air. Think you can handle that?"

Akio nodded and stepped up to the counter where the fish were lined up. He used earthbending to separate the fish on the far left from the rest and took a deep breath before moving water from the basin to surround the fish before moving the water back. Then, Akio blew all the water and dirt off with a simple huff. To speed up the process, he cleaned the next five fish at the same time, earning approval from Shirokuma for his quick mastery of the basic skills of waterbending.

Yakedo gave the fish a quick roasting and the four friends all knelt down and began to eat. They each ate one whole fish before looking at each other, trying to decide who would get the last two. It was at this moment that Ronin stuck his head into the window and let out a low growl. Akio tossed him one fish which he ate happily, but the second he heated up with his own fiery breath before eating it.

The foursome spent the rest of the day laughing and relaxing, interspersed with intense spurts of waterbending training for Akio.

"Honestly, Akio, I think you'll be as good as me in a week, or maybe even less, and I'm considered a master in both the Northern and the Southern Water Tribes. Then after that, the sky's the limit. Especially for you," praised Shirokuma at the end of the day.

Akio smiled gratefully and bowed respectfully before putting a friendly arm around Shiro's shoulders.

"Hope he's as quick to pick up firebending once I get to him," Yakedo said as he stoked the fire he had built in the fireplace.

"Oh, shut it, Kedo," admonished Kyoki. "There's no rush, Akio. We're all honored to be your teachers and will help you master each style no matter how long it takes."

"Thanks, Kyoki," Akio said, flashing her a smile, "but to be honest, I agree with Yakedo. I want to learn this stuff as fast as possible. Monk Renshi and the Avatars all said that the world needs someone to bring balance. They must know something we don't. When whatever is about to happen happens, I want to be ready."


End file.
